Editor’s Note: The whole idea of “brain death” is a fraud. A person is dead when the breath of life departs from them; their spirit and soul are no longer present in their body. A person who has given up the ghost, can not be kept alive by machines. If one can be kept alive by a machine, their soul must still be present and biblically they must still be alive. Most “pro-life” groups may not recognize this fact; this only proves that these are truly murderous, perilous times that we live in today.

OAKLAND, CA, December 20, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A pioneer doctor in neonatology is championing the life of a 13-year-old girl from California who was officially declared “brain dead” by doctors after a routine tonsillectomy last week went horribly wrong.

“The first thing about ‘brain death’ is that brain death is not true death. It never was and never will be,” said Dr. Paul Byrne, a pioneer neonatologist and clinical professor of pediatrics at the University of Toledo to LifeSiteNews.com.

“This girl is still very much a living person. Her life ought to be protected and preserved. No one should be hastening her death or shortening her life,” he said.

Tonsillectomy is a common surgery. Jahi McMath’s December 9 surgery was recommended by doctors to allegedly address the her sleep apnea. While the surgery at first appeared to be successful, the girl began coughing up blood before suffering cardiac arrest. Doctors declared her brain-dead December 12.

The McMath family is seeking a court injunction today through their lawyer that would prevent doctors at the Children’s Hospital in Oakland from taking their daughter Jahi off life-support, despite doctors allegedly telling the family that she is “dead, dead, dead, dead.”

But Jahi’s mother Nailah believes that her daughter is not truly dead.

“I feel her. I can feel my daughter. I just kind of feel like maybe she’s trapped inside her own body. She wants to scream out and tell me something,” she told the San Francisco Chronicle.

Jahi’s uncle Omari Sealey agrees: “She’s still warm. I can feel her presence, I can still feel her smile,” he told KGO-TV.

Byrne said that it should be “obvious to everyone,” not just the girl’s relatives, that she is still alive.

“Her heart is beating, she has circulation, she has respiration, her immune mechanisms are intact, and I’m sure she is healing from her tonsillectomy. Healing happens in only a living person.”

“These are facts of life, [indicating] that this girl is a living person and that she’s not dead,” he said.

Byrne explained that someone does not “become dead” because a doctor declares someone ‘brain dead’, “although they intend it that way”, he added.

He explained that the brain dead criteria was “invented” in 1968 by an ad hoc Committee of the Harvard Medical School openly seeking a way to harvest organs for transplanting. Since a dead organ taken from a corpse cannot be successfully transplanted into a living body, the committee settled on a definition of death that would allow the harvest of healthy living organs from a still living body that lacked signs of brain activity.

“Brain death was invented, conjured, made-up to get organ transplants,” he said.

Declaring someone ‘brain dead’ to harvest organs is always to the detriment of the patient, Byrne explained. “No one can recover once they’ve had their beating heart and other organs cut out.”

“If doctors can, they will take this young girl’s organs.”

Byrne said it’s a common misconception that a machine, such as a ventilator, gives a person life. The machine only sustains an already existing life.

In a case like Jahi’s, the ventilator “only moves the air into a living person. It does not move the air out.”

“The air comes out become the person is alive,” he said.

“The machine supports the vital activities of respiration and circulation, but it does not give life. The life comes from God and from no place else. What doctors [are supposed to] do is protect and preserve the life that’s there,” he said.

The girl’s family is waging a legal battle to keep their daughter on a ventilator and to have doctors insert a feeding tube into her.

“I want her on as long as possible, because I really believe that God will wake her up,” the mother said. The family held a prayer vigil on Wednesday night for their daughter’s recovery.

The family is keeping constant vigil at their girl’s bedside, fearing that doctors might pull the plugs without their knowledge or consent.

The doctors know that the law favors whatever decision they make. California law states that “a person who is declared brain dead is legally and physiologically dead.” According to the law, Jahi is dead.

Byrne said that only New York and New Jersey have a conscience clause that offers specific protections to a patient declared ‘brain dead’ whose primary caregiver does not hold cessation of brain activity as true death. “In the other 48 states, there is nothing in their laws to give any kind of protection to the person declared brain dead.”

“All of the laws — and I mean all of them — all revolve around getting organs,” he said.

The hospital administration is asking the family permission to release details that they say will “provide transparency, openness and provide answers to the public about this situation.”

“We implore the family to allow the hospital to openly discuss what has occurred and to give us the necessary legal permission—which it has been withholding—that would bring clarity, and we believe, some measure of closure and deeper understanding of this medical case,” said Dr. David Durand, chief of pediatrics, in a statement.

Many people posting online comments underneath Jahi’s story carried by various media agree with the doctors that it’s time for “closure”.

“I’m so sorry for this family. The problem is that they don’t seem to understand that no one ‘wakes up’ or recovers from brain death. It’s not like being in a coma, where there is still brain activity. The brain is dead; she can’t come back,” wrote one.

“Despite the pain they are going through the realization is this: She is clinically brain dead. When the brain stops, everything else stops as well. The life support machine is not going to bring her back to life,” wrote another.

“Legal brain death is 100% of never coming back, She is a corpse and the human life in her is 100% gone,” wrote yet another.

But LifeSiteNews.com has reported on numerous stories of people declared ‘brain dead’ by doctors and who have unexpectedly recovered.

Here are incidents from the past five years:

July 2013 – A New York woman who was pronounced ‘brain dead’ by doctors unexpectedly awoke just as her organs were about to be removed for transplant.

October 2012 – A documentary titled “Pigen der ikke ville dø” (“The girl who refused to die”), aired on Danish TV, telling the story of 19-year-old Carina Melchior, who awoke after doctors declared her “brain dead“ and had approached the family about considering donating her organs.

April 2012 – Doctors declared british teen Stephen Thorpe “brain dead,” telling the father that the boy would never recover from a serious car accident. Despite pressure from the doctors, the father would not consent to allow the boy’s organs to be donated. With the help of other doctors, five weeks later Thorpe left the hospital, having almost completely recovered.

July 2011 – Madeleine Gauron, a Quebec woman — identified as viable for organ donation after doctors diagnosed her as “brain dead” — surprised her family and physicians when she recovered from a coma, opened her eyes, and began eating.

May 2011 – An Australian woman declared “brain dead” regained consciousness after family fought for weeks doctor recommendations that her ventilator be shut off.

February 2008 – 65-year-old Raleane Kupferschmidt was taken home to die after relatives were told by doctors that she was “brain dead” from a massive cerebral hemorrhage. The family had already begun to grieve and plan for her funeral when she suddenly awoke and was rushed back to hospital.

March 2008 – In one particularly chilling case, 21-year-old Zack Dunlap, who was declared “brain dead” following an ATV accident, recounted how he remembers hearing doctors discussing harvesting his organs. Zack showed signs of life only moments before he was scheduled to be wheeled into the operating theater to have his organs removed. One of Zack’s relatives provoked the reaction by digging a pocketknife under his fingernail.

May 2008 – A Virginia family was shocked but relieved when their mother, Val Thomas, woke up after doctors declared her ‘brain dead’. Doctors had not detected brain waves for more than 17 hours, but kept the woman breathing on a respirator. The family were discussing organ donation options for their mother when she suddenly woke up and started speaking to nurses.

June 2008 – A Parisian whose organs were about to be removed by doctors after he had “died” of a heart attack, revived on the operating table only minutes before doctors were to begin harvesting his organs.

Dr. Byrne said that with California’s permissive “brain death” laws, the most important thing people can do is pray.

Bob Hess has done some in depth research on Man’s Soul and Spirit. With consideration of the girl on life support because of a common operation, maybe this will give some people a little insight into a dilemma.

I had an individual who wanted me to do a lesson on “The Difference Between The Soul And The Spirit”. I taught a Sunday School lesson on this over the weekend and will pass it on to you. I hope this will answer questions that MANY Christians have had down through the years.

The secret to understanding this topic is the Biblical Terms that were used in talking about the Soul and Spirit. I attempted to show this in my class. My Sunday School class seemed to understand it, so I’ll give you a try. Here it is.

1. The Greek word Psuche is translated into the word SOUL and LIFE.

a. In the New Testament this term is used to speak of the immaterial part of man. It is invisible and is contained inside of the flesh covering.

b. Man’s soul speaks of the INTERNAL LIFE ELEMENT of the man.

c. I know that this may set many back on their heals, but animals have a soul. In Revelation 8:9 we read “And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died and the third part of the ships were destroyed”. The word “life” is the Greek word Psuche or in the English, soul.

d. The difference between the animal and man is that the man was created with a soul that was made up with three elements. Man’s soul consists of two additional elements that animals do not. Man has a SPIRIT and a MIND that are part of the makeup of the human SOUL or PSUCHE. Animal souls do NOT contain these two elements. We will get into these two elements later.

e. In 1 Thessalonians 5:23 Paul speaks of this. He says that when the Lord comes back, we will go to be with him as a whole person, body, spirit and soul.

f. In Genesis 2:7 we are told that God breathed into man’s nostrils the breath of life. the word soul in this verse the Hebrew word, nephesh. This word means breaths. Here it states that man became a living soul or a living, physical, breathing being. The term corresponds with the Greek word Psuche which is translated as “life” in Revelation 8:9 and soul in other references that are too numerous to mention. See also 1 Corinthians 15:45 where the term is translated as soul and in Acts 20:10 where it is translated as life.

2. The word Greek word Pneuma is translated as SPIRIT.

a. As was stated in our look at Psuche, the human has an element within the soul that is called the spirit. That is one element that is NOT found in animals or other created beings.

b. It is very important to realize that this is NOT the word that is used for a GHOST. The KJV translates Pneuma as Ghost in speaking of the Holy Spirit. “Ghost” is a completely different term in the Greek, which we will see later. The third person of the Godhead is the HOLY SPIRIT and NOT the HOLY GHOST.

c. The SPIRIT of man is not a material element, but is, as the soul, immaterial.

d. This part of man makes the man aware of his body and his natural, physical environment.

e. It is the part of man that makes him like God in the respect that it (the spirit) is eternal (will NEVER go out of existence) and it can share that characteristic of God.

f. It is the part of man that can be given a new birth from God (John 3:3-7). NOTE: It is the SPIRIT (Pneuma) that is born again (from above by the Spirit of God) and not the soul (Psuche). This new birth is made possible through placing one’s trust in Jesus as his

1783 – John Taylor found his wife in a very helpless state, in that she was within one month of delivering their son Ben. He and Mrs. Taylor had arrived at Craig’s Creek in Upper Kentucky a little before Christmas. They had made the trip from Virginia with great difficulty without a friend or acquaintance to accompany their young family. Taylor said that they took an ill fixed boat of strangers down the Ohio and that not a soul was settled from Wheeling to Louisville at that time. Also according to Taylor, “Not a soul in all of Bear Grass settlement was in safety, but by being in a fort” Though it was winter they set out to go the eighty miles to their destination on Gilberts Creek. They had three horses, two packed with all they owned and the other was ridden by his wife. The trail was narrow and difficult as they waded through mud and forded creeks and rivers up to their waists, often in bitter, cold weather. It was in Taylor’s own cabin, that a revival commenced in the winter of 1784-85. Taylor performed hard physical labor during the day and preached at night. The revival at Clear Creek settlement resulted in the founding of a Regular Baptist church. Many of those first thirty members had migrated from Virginia under the ministry and leadership of Elder Lewis Craig. That summer Taylor baptized some sixty of his neighbors. This was considered the first revival in the commonwealth of Ky. Taylor Organized a church at Bullitsburg where he baptized 113 persons. He also founded churches in Trimble County, Franklin County (Frankfort), and Buck Run in Franklin County. He was a true, hard working, pioneer church-planter. [This Day in Baptist History II: Cummins and Thompson, BJU Press: 2000 A.D. pp. 717-19. John Taylor, A History of Ten Baptist Churches (Bloomfield, Ky.: Will H. Holmes, 1827), pp. 54-55.] Prepared by Dr. Greg J. Dixon

1807 – John Chin was ordained to the gospel ministry. John was the youngest son of a farming family and was born near Blanton, England, in May of 1773. He always talked in glowing terms of his parents but especially of his godly mother who instructed him early in the scriptures. John was brought, as early as eight, to his need of Christ but the conviction subsided when he was apprenticed, while a lad to a craftsman in Bristol. However he was attracted to the preaching of an independent minister named Hey and began attending the chapel at Horsely Down. It was there that he came deeply under conviction of sin and received the Savior of Calvary, was baptized, and united with the church. The pastor encouraged John to exercise his gift of preaching and door to door evangelism. From there John moved to London and became involved with the Baptist church that met in Church Street, Blackfriars. He then began to serve with Pastor Joseph Swain and the saints in Walworth. Following the death of Mr. Swain, a second church was formed, property secured, and a chapel was erected. A sizeable congregation gathered, and Mr. Chin was asked to become their pastor. Mr. Chin was preaching regularly in various places, and he did not accept an immediate call, in fact it was nearly three years before he was finally persuaded to accept the challenge and was ordained. For the next thirty-two years he served this congregation faithfully, and it was necessary on several occasions to enlarge the chapel. At the conclusion of his ministry it would seat near a thousand. On August 28, 1839, at age 66, John Chin laid aside his robe of flesh. [This Day in Baptist History II: Cummins and Thompson, BJU Press: 2000 A.D. pp. 712-14. Alfred W. Light, Bunhill Fields (London: C.J. Farncombe and Sons, Ltd., 1915), p. 69.]

As we close our study of the rich vocabulary of the OT, we could not consider a more appropriate final word than selāh (H5542). It appears seventy-one times in the Psalms and three times in a prayer by Habakkuk (Hab_3:3; Hab_3:9; Hab_3:13), which was set to a tune and directed to the chief singer. It is not surprising it is omitted in the corrupt Latin Vulgate, but does appear in the Septuagint and is translated as diapsalma, which refers to some variation or modulation of the voice in singing.

While the precise meaning is not known for sure, several possibilities have been offered. Some think it derives from a root (sal) that means “to raise, elevate, lift up” and suppose that it directs an elevation in the voice, to sing louder, or to pitch the tune up to a higher key, because there is nobler matter to come. Others view it as an affirmation of the truth of something, whether good or bad, and render it “verily” or “truly,” corresponding to the idea of “Amen,” that is, “so be it,” “so shall it be.”

The most common view, however, is that this is a musical notation that means a pause and musical interlude and is derived from the word salah, “to strew or spread out,” implying that the subject should be spread out, meditated upon, strewn out in front of us that we might attentively consider it. It often follows a noteworthy statement, good or bad, and likely indicates a pause for reflection while the instruments play an interlude. This seems to be the most probable meaning.

When we read this word, then, we are encouraged to pause, reflect, meditate, and consider carefully what has been said. This meaning is made all the more probable by its use in Psa_9:16 : “The LORD is known by the judgment which he executeth: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah.” As noted at the beginning of our study (January 6), the transliterated word Higgaion (higgāyôn, H1902) means meditation (January 6), musing, and thinking in the heart. How we should, indeed, reflect and meditate on verses such as Psa_66:4 : “All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee; they shall sing to thy name. Selah.”

Dear Christian Friend, the author and publisher of this book pray that selāh will become an important word in your Christian walk. May God richly bless you.

“For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living,” Mark 12:44.

Does God need anything? Is He somehow deficient if we do not obey Him, or is He completely self-sufficient? I hope you know the answer to these questions. By faith, we can say, “No, God needs nothing. He is absolutely self-sufficient.” Then, we must follow-up that question with this one: “Why does He ask us to give of our time, energy and money to Him?” If He owns everything, even the “cattle upon a thousand hills” (Psalm 50:10), then why would He request us to share what we have with Him?

In today’s text, I wonder if the poor widow who gave two small copper coins ever had a similar thought. “Surely, the God of creation does not need me to give this penny.” But she gave her offering anyway, and what Jesus said next gives us insight as to why God asks our financial involvement in His work. Some very rich people gave large offerings out of their prosperity, but Jesus said that what the poor widow gave was more than what the rich people gave. Jesus opens our eyes to see that what God wants most is our trust. He absolutely does not need our financial contributions, but when we do give God our time, energy and resources, it is a sign of faith and dependence upon Him. The more we give to God, the more we depend upon Him to care for our every need. The poor widow was “all in”—she was 100% dependent upon God to care for her, and God was pleased.

1813 – In retaliation for the burning of Newark, N.J., the British burned Buffalo, N.Y. Lieutenant Colonel Chapin was taken prisoner, and Rev. Elkanah Holmes was forced to flee. This is just a part of the exciting life of Rev. Holmes, frontier preacher and missionary to the six Indian nations in western N.Y. The event just mentioned happened when the N.Y. Missionary Society split in 1807 over Holmes insistence on believer’s baptism and had moved with his third wife – having lost the other two by death – to the Canadian side of the Niagara River in 1809. He had already established a small Indian church in Queenston in Niagara Township. However the ministry ended abruptly with the outbreak of war in 1812. Being an American, Holmes welcomed the advancing American troops and was not viewed well by his parishioners and was considered a traitor by the British and was captured, although seventy years of age at the time. Lt. Chapin, who had married one of Holme’s sons, affected his escape. Holmes was born on Dec. 22, 1743, joined the army at 16 and saw action in the French and Indian war. He actually served for a time in the British navy and saw the capture of Havana, and was ship wrecked. He was saved and baptized under the ministry of Rev. D. Sutton at Kingwood, N.J and ordained in 1773. During the American Revolution he served as a chaplain in a N.J. regiment, and often participated with the troops in battle. After the war he Pastored several churches in CT and NY. He also won Chief Red Jacket of the Seneca’s to Christ. He believed in the autonomy of the local church and closed communion. [This Day in Baptist History II: Cummins and Thompson, BJU Press: 2000 A.D. pp. 715-16. Stuart Ivison and Fred Rosser, The Baptists in Upper and Lower Canada Before 1820 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1956), p. 141.]
Prepared by Dr. Greg J. Dixon

“In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old,” Amos 9:11.

Adam lost the kingdom to Satan. Therefore, God created His Son to restore the kingdom back to God. This Son would be His Prophet, Priest, King and sacrifice. As the sacrifice, He would redeem mankind back to God. As God’s Prophet, He would bring God’s truth into the world of darkness. As God’s Priest, He would make the atonement and ask forgiveness for mankind’s sins. As God’s King, He will return on a conqueror’s war horse, wearing a golden crown, crush all the powers of darkness and set up God’s physical kingdom on the earth.

“And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS” (Rev. 19:11-16). “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God” (Rev. 21:3).

Just Saying

God’s King can make all things new for anyone in the New Year . . . if one will let him.

The deepness of the Word

There is, today, a move away from the deep endearing knowledge of God and what He wants us to know. We are shallow in knowledge, relationship and living. We can no longer call our selves Christians because we do not pass the test of "Christ like." We want what we want and tend to move through the buffet line of the Bible, picking and choosing our desires. By this we allow our selves to indulge in worldly thought and actions.

We are called to be a separate people, distinct from the world and its practices. Those that call themselves Christians today practice worldly things and are no longer identifiable as Christians.